Art and theater reviews covering Seattle to Olympia, Washington, with other art, literature and personal commentary.
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Saturday, October 12, 2013

Harlequin’s Henry V

The News Tribune, Oct. 11, 2013

Harlequin
Production’s Henry V is ensemble theater at its best. With the lone exception
of Jason Marr as the title character, every actor in the cast plays multiple
roles — eight actors astonishingly playing over 50 roles. The reason I call
this show ensemble theater is because any one of these actors could just as
effectively play any of the other parts and there are no leading roles, not
even Henry. Sex, size and appearance don’t enter the equation. We have men
playing women’s roles and women playing men’s roles, and they are all equally
convincing. Thanks to Ashley Randolph’s costumes and the actor’s good use of
posture, voice and movement it is almost impossible to recognize that the women
playing men’s parts are not men and vice versa. Again with one lone exception:
Christian Doyle playing two of the women, Nell, a.k.a. Mistress Quickly, and
Alice, brings off some hilarious bits of drag performance. His gestures and his
feminine voice are right-on, and the fact that he has a beard adds to the
wondrous absurdity.

Apropos
to presenting this as an ensemble production, it is all about the words and the
action; everything else — sets, costumes, lighting, could be eliminated and it
would still be an excellent show. Such theatrical dressing is icing on the
cake. Marko Bujeaud’s set is a backdrop of beautiful trees and a huge pageant
wagon of a type that may or may not have actually been used by roving players
in Shakespeare’s time. Harlequin used the same wagon when they did this play in
the Washington Center black box in 1998. It was originally designed by Seattle
set designer Jeffrey Cook. It is a large wagon (easily 10 feet tall by my
estimate) built of heavy old timber with a side wall that lets down to rest on
barrels and serve as a thrust stage and with cleverly designed hand and foot
holds actors can use for climbing. This wagon is the only set piece (other than
the trees) and it is all that is needed.

The
entire story is a play within a play as a roving band of actors and a narrator
(called Chorus and acted by Daniel Flint, who also plays the French Ambassador,
a constable, Governor Harfleur, Duke of Burgundy, a soldier and a prisoner)
acts out the story of young King Henry V’s invasion of France and his courtship
of Princess Katherine (Maggie Lofquist). High drama is mixed with loads of
comedy, since the troupe of actors is a scraggly bunch and due to the high
comedy provided by Henry’s old drinking and carousing buddies — Pistol (Taryn
Pearce), Bardolph (Flint), Nym (Frank Lawler), Mistress Quickly and the Boy
(Lofquist).

There
are two epic battle scenes, each of which is preceded by inspirational speeches
from the king, and each of which is filled with marvelously choreographed sword
fights. There is a comic scene worthy of Abbott and Costello in which Alice
tries to teach English to Katharine. There are numerous scenes of intrigue, and
an excellent if too long denouement in which Henry bargains with the king and
queen of France for the hand of their daughter, Katherine.

In
many other plays Russ Holm has proven that he has a special knack for playing
big, blustery characters, especially ones who are taken with their own
authority, and he employs that here as the Archbishop of Canterbury, King
Charles VI of France and other nobles.

Casey
Brown morphs into many diverse characters and is especially notable as Louis
the Dauphin and as the French aide.

Director
Scot Whitney is to be commended for an excellent job and, more importantly, for
being the originator of the concept of using eight actors for a play that is
usually done with 20 or more.

It is
a long play, close to three hours including a 20-minute intermission. I enjoyed
it immensely, but I have to admit I got anxious for them to wind things up
after the last big fight scene.

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About Me

I am an artist and writer. My paintings are shown primarily in galleries in Tacoma and Olympia, Washington. I write an art review column and arts features for the Weekly Volcano, a community theater review column for The (Tacoma) News Tribune and regular arts features for Thurston Talk (Olympia).
My published novels are:Return to Freedom, Reunion at the etside, The Backside of Nowhere, The Wives of Marty Winters, Imprudent Zeal and Until the Dawn. I've also published a book on art, As If Art Matters. All are available on amazon.com and http://www.claytonworkspublishing.com.
I grew up in Tupelo and Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and have been living in the Pacific Northwest since 1988 where I am active in many progressive organizations such as PFLAG (Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays).